Raceland girl meets country music stars

Sunday

Mar 10, 2013 at 12:01 AM

When 7-year-old Alise Gros gets really excited, she always acts the same way, her father said.

Katie UrbaszewskiStaff Writer

When 7-year-old Alise Gros gets really excited, she always acts the same way, her father said.“Her knees kind of buckle, her hands come up around her face and she makes this high-pitched squeal,” State Police Trooper Keith Gros said.That’s exactly what she did when she met country singers Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in Las Vegas for her trip paid for by State Police Troop C’s Grant-A-Wish program.Keith was in charge of Grant-A-Wish for about four years until Alise was born, and then he began to help out more at home, he said.Alise was born four months early, at 1 pound and 4 ounces, with two of the most severe brain hemorrhages an infant can have. She has cerebral palsy and a seizure disorder, and between surgeries and other treatment “she’s 7 years old, and she’s been through more than some people will go through in their whole life,” her father said.When she was younger, troopers asked him if they could grant her a wish, and he said he’d rather wait until she was old enough to pick something she really wanted.“I wanted the wish to be hers,” Keith said. “I wanted her to know what’s going on.”Eventually, she told her father she wanted to dance with McGraw.The Gros family are McGraw fans, the trooper said.Keith strongly relates to some of McGraw’s songs. “Don’t Take the Girl” has a verse “about a wife with a troubled pregnancy, and that was us,” he said. He would sometimes play McGraw’s songs in the car, and Alise had recently started singing along.Keith said he told Trooper Gilbert Dardar, who now runs the program, about his daughter’s wish.“You ready for this one? She wants to dance with Tim McGraw,” Keith recalled telling him.“Man, I’m not going to promise you anything,” Dardar replied. “But we’ll try.”Turns out, troopers had contacts with McGraw’s record label through a previous wish, and they were able set up the Vegas trip.“Lo and behold, everything kind of worked out,” Keith said. In a backstage visit before the concert, McGraw and Hill were “just very down-to-earth and very receiving and welcoming,” Keith said. He, his wife, his son Cole and Alise went to see them, and Dardar and his wife accompanied them.McGraw sang with Alise a little bit, and “he didn’t hesitate to pick her up and hold her,” Keith said.The musicians were friendly with Cole too, he said.“Do you get in trouble much?” Keith said McGraw asked him. When the boy said no, McGraw responded playfully, “Try and get in trouble a little more. You’ll have more fun.”McGraw later asked the kids onstage during the concert, and he signed a guitar for each of them, Keith said.In his experience with his daughter and others, Grant-A-Wish “is a great thing that the State Police does,” he said. “A lot of people probably don’t think we do these kinds of things. But we do have that side to us, and it’s able to happen because of a lot of community support. ... I just want to say thank you to the community for supporting our foundation.”The Grant-A-Wish program has granted six wishes so far this year, and the troopers are planning more, said State Police spokesman, Trooper Evan Harrell.The program is paid for through private donations, annual fundraisers and corporate sponsorships. The program is open to children 18 or younger who have life-altering or life-threatening illnesses that have been diagnosed by doctors, Harrell said.To suggest a wish for a child or to donate, visit www.TroopCgrantawish.com or contact Dardar at 857-3680. The next sponsor event will be the annual Troop C Grant-A-Wish Golf Tournament Oct. 21 at Ellendale Country Club in Houma.

Staff Writer Katie Urbaszewski can be reached at 448-7617 or katie.urbaszewski@dailycomet.com.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.